Prime Minister leads high-level delegation to TICAD VI in Kenya

GIS – 26 August 2016: The Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, is leading a high-level delegation to the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) which will be held on 27 and 28 August 2016 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

It is the first time that TICAD, initiated by the Japanese Government since 1993, is being held in Africa with a view to refocus international attention on the importance and urgency of African development issues and promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners.

TICAD contributes to the facilitation and promotion of high-level policy dialogue on issues pertaining to economic growth, trade and investment, sustainable development, human security, peace and stability and government. Being a multilateral partnership, TICAD process also actively promotes South-South and triangular cooperation, in addition to traditional cooperation.

As an international conference on African development, TICAD is co-organised by the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa, the United Nations Development Programme, African Union Commission and the World Bank. The main objectives are to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and their partners, and to mobilise support for African-owned development initiatives.

The commitments declared in the precedent TICAD in 2013 have been realised in collaboration with Mauritius through the African Business Education Initiative (ABE Initiative). ABE Initiative aims to enable 1 000 young African people from both public and private sectors to foster industrial and economic development, and to encourage more business partnerships between Japan and Africa. Under ABE participants have opportunity to follow master courses at Japanese universities and undergo internship at the associated companies in Japan.

Two officers from the Central Water Authority and the Landslide Management Unit from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure were selected in 2015 under the African Business Education Initiative. Two other participants from Wastewater Management Authority and Board of Investment will be leaving for Japan at the beginning of September 2016.